Lost in the Moment (A Savioe Family Novel) (18 page)

She pulled her hand out of mine and touched my cheek. “Marcus, this thing between us is fake.”

I rested my forehead on hers as I whispered. “It doesn’t have to be, pet.”

             
                                          *****

             
             
Chapter Seven

Marie

Monday morning rolled around much too quickly.
After we settled our argument in the ring and he floored me with his whispered declaration of possibly becoming a real couple, we were called inside for dinner before I could give him an answer. I still haven’t answered him and he hasn’t mentioned it again. The rest of our weekend was very laid back. We played a game of monopoly with the twins, went to mass Sunday and relaxed in front of the TV until we had to go to sleep.

I found out that he could speak two other languages fluently. He hasn’
t told me which ones yet, though I was beginning to suspect that one was French. When dad stepped on one of the twin’s Legos, he let out a string of obscenities in French that made momma blush. Drez turned his head away trying to mask his smirk. Now it could have been from the hilarity of the situation. I mean, dad was jumping around on one foot holding the other, but for some reason I don’t think that was it.

I also learned that he has a very dry sense of humor and he gets a kick out of teasing me mercilessly. Anything he could say or do to get me to blush he would do it, which was frustrating to say the least. I still had yet to get up the courage to ask him about the burn scars on his body. Though I suspected I already knew the answer to how he got them. If I’m right then that uncle of his had better hope that I never meet him or so help me, I’ll beat him within an inch of St. Peter’s Gate
s.

I decided to wear my pair of black soft faux calfskin pants and a tight brown turtleneck today with just a simple black boot. Since everyone’s bathroom time in the mornings was cut in half
, I moved all my hair stuff to my room so I didn’t hog the bathroom. When we were at the mall, I made sure I picked up more make-up so I could play a bit more with different looks. That’s what I did after we were all ushered to our rooms. I hopped on YouTube and searched out different ways to make my eyes stand out. So this morning with my outfit I was able to achieve ‘the perfect smoky eye’.

My brothers thankfully had
enough sense this morning not to complain about my choice of clothing. Though I could tell Beau was having a hard time keeping his mouth shut when I walked into the kitchen.

“Morning.” I chirped out as I walked over to the center island to grab a bagel.
He narrowed his eyes at me as he took a drink from his mug. I glared back. “What? I’m not showing any skin. Would you rather I go back up and change?”

He snorted at me as Charles and Luke
filed into the kitchen. “You’re pushing it. Where’d you get those pants anyway?”

“Marraine Sophie.
Are you questioning her taste?” Even he wasn’t fool enough to try to go against our godmother. I was just thankful that she was more rebel than saint and sent me all of the edgier clothes she came across. I think that was because I was her only goddaughter and she loved to aggravate dad.

His face paled for a second before turning what momma would call K&B purple. “Does dad know?”

“Probably not.” I flashed him a toothy grin before I took a bite of the bagel.

He shook his head at me leaning onto the counter and let out a sigh. “She lives to torment him
, huh? Oh and I still want to talk to you about what happened at school Friday.”

“What happened? I played my part to make people think I was with him.” I shrugged my shoulder taking another bite. “I suggest you start acting like you’re cool with it or people are going to suspect something.”

“She’s got a point, Beau.” Charles spoke up behind me. “I was asked why you would let her go with him if it pissed you off so much.”

Beau ran a hand up the back of his head. “I’m sure y’all have heard the rumors about him.
There has to be some speck of truth behind it.”

Luke snorted. “The
y’re just rumors, frère. Just like the crap that floats around about us. Unless you are trying to tell us that you have been arrested?”

Beau let out a rare laugh. “
Okay. I’ll get over my protectiveness, but Marie, if anything happens that you don’t like, let me know.”

I tapped my finger against my lips. “Well, now that you mention it….”

He clenched his jaw and leaned forward over the island. “What?”

“Tell your ex-teammates to stop coming up to us. Scott tried to talk to us at the mall Saturday like we were best friends or something.
He even put his arm around me.” I crossed my arms across my chest and glared at him.

“
Are you talking about that git that hit on you, pet?” Drez sauntered into the room. I spun around to greet him and my mouth dropped open slightly. He was wearing the jeans we bought at the mall with a powder blue shirt under a leather jacket. The shirt enhanced the paleness of his eyes and hung to every muscle he had hidden. It took everything in me not to run over to him and caress every bit of that chest. I cleared my throat and nodded at him.

He walked over to the island that we congregated around and picked up a bagel.
“Has anyone seen my keys?”

Charles snic
kered as Beau and Luke groaned slinging his arm over Drez’s shoulders. “Ask the twins. They love hiding things. When they take Luke’s keys, they usually end up in the sugar bowl or the flour. Beau’s always go in the lint trap of the dryer. I suggest if you want to find them quickly ask Dev in front of momma.”

“What are you talking about,
Boo?” Mom walked in with the twins in tow. They just looked at each other behind her back and gave us a sneaky smirk.

“Drez’s keys are missing and we have to leave in the next few minutes if we don’t want to be late.”
Beau explained trying to hide his budding grin.

She placed her hand on her hip and gave the
twins ‘
the look’
. “What have I told you about taking things that aren’t yours?”

Remi frowned at her. “He made Marie mad and say that bad word. I don’t care if he is Beau’s friend or not, no one messes with my sister.”

Her face turned spotted in her growing frustration and anger. “Remi Aldric Savioe! Are you sassing me? That’s it! You two are going to go get those keys and you can forget about going to see that play today at school. I want them in my hand in the next ten minutes or so help me I will tan your little hides.”

Dev gasped and whined. “But I had nothing to do with it!
”

She stood there with her hand held out not saying a word. Remi stomped his foot, growled and ran from the room. Dev groaned tossing his head back with his arms in the air before turning to leave the room. “Kids go ahead and head on to school. Marcus, honey, I’m so sorry about this.”

He placed a hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay. I understand the reasoning behind it. Marie, go ahead and ride with Beau. You really shouldn’t be late.”

I nodded, picking up my bag and headed out the door to the garage. Charles stood by the passenger door of the truck and leaned the seat up for me. I climbed in placing my bag beside me and started giggling. “And you guys wonder why I don’t want a car.
I knew it’d only be a matter of time before they did something to him.”

Beau’s shoulders shook as he held in his amusement. “I thought that was because dad didn’t want to pay the insurance on you and your horrible driving.”

“Oh shut up.” I kicked the seat as we pulled out of the driveway and headed to school.

             
                                          *****

At school we took a seat at our usual table, half of the football team kept a close eye on us. I nudged Luke and nodded in their direction mouthing
‘What the hell?’
He shrugged at me putting his helmet on the table. Charles took off to the breakfast line and Beau sat across from us. I kicked him under the table and nodded toward the jocks. “What’s with them?”

He glanced over his shoulder
then shrugged. “I dunno. Maybe it’s because of how you’re dressed.”

I narrowed my eyes at him
before rolling them. “Ha ha, very funny. Seriously what is up with them and the whispers?”

He shrugged again and started tapping on the table. My phone chirped in my bag. I opened it, pulled out my phone and read the message.

Drez: On my way now. Remi put my keys in the back of the toilet.

I laughed out loud drawing the attention of everyone at the table. I typed out a quick response.

Me: LOL. Those little shits. Be careful and C-ya when u get here.

Drez: Aw. Worried about me again, pet? Don’t worry I always am. ;)

My cheeks flushed at the blatant innuendo. I quickly put the phone back in my bag and looked up. All my brothers were staring at me like I had lost my mind. “What?” I squeaked. “He’s on his way. The terrors put his keys in the back of the toilet.”

Luke and Charles snickered as Beau stared at me before holding out his hand. “Let me see your phone.”

“Uh… no.” I pulled my bag closer to me as a shadow loomed over the table.

We all turned our heads simultaneously at the person intruding. Scott stood at the end of the table resting his hands on it and leaned close to me. “Are you okay, Marie?”

I furrowed my brows at him in confusion. “Um… yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”

He tapped his knuckles on the table. “Well, it looked like you and your man had a very heated argument at the mall Saturday. Hell, you even slapped him. I was worried that after you left that
… you know… it might have gotten a bit more violent.”

Beau growled at me. “What argument?”

“It was nothing. You know how I like to argue with anything that walks.” I mumbled under my breath and pushed my hair back over my shoulder.

Scott snorted, pulled out his phone and held it out to Beau. “Yeah right. Here, brother
, take a look at this and tell me if it looked like nothing.”

I jumped over the table and looked at the video on the screen.
It started off shaky then quickly became clearer. Drez and I sat in the van glaring at each other. You could hear Scott and Hunter in the background giving their commentary.

‘Dude, isn’t that Marie and that punk bitch?’
Hunter sneered as you heard the sound of a lighter clicking on.

‘Yeah, man, that’s why I’m recording this.
As soon as he got in the car, she asked him a question. He apparently didn’t like what she asked cause he clutched the steering wheel and what looked like growled at her. Oh shit! Do you think we should interfere?’
Scott asked as Drez started yelling at me. You could see my mouth drop open, as my face turned red and hand landed across his face hard.
‘Damn! Did you see that?’

‘Holy shit! His head snapped back with that. Looks
like trouble in paradise.’
Hunter cackled.

‘We need to stop it. I’ve heard that once someone hits him or touches him in any way he’ll beat the shit out of them when he gets the chance.
Male or female. I don’t know about you but I respect Beau too much to let some idiot hurt his sister.’
The footage got a little shaky again as he moved a little closer before the video ended.

Beau pinned me with his hazel eyes raising an eyebrow in question as Scott put his phone back in his pocket. “What was
that about, Marie?”

I sighed
as I sat back down. “It was honestly nothing. We argued over a misunderstanding.”

“Hmm.”
Beau nodded to Scott and left the table with him. They joined up with Hunter and a few of the other football players.

“That was a wicked slap. What did he say to piss you off that bad?” Charles leaned
over the table.

“None of your business, frère. We have settled things so it shouldn’t matter.”
The bell rang just in time for me to escape any further questions.
I can’t believe they have video of it.

             
                                          *****

Drez

I felt bad that both of the twins were punished for hiding my keys. Remi had even admitted to doing it, yet Eva reprimanded both of them. I had obviously made an enemy in that child. After he fished the keys out of the tank, he threw them at me and
pushed passed me in an attempt to run from the room. Eva, the entire time, kept apologizing no matter how I tried to smooth over the situation. I eventually gave up and headed out the door for school.

I was in hopes that Marie would let me know if she wanted to give us a go for real sometime today.
This waiting for any type of response was starting to take its toll. I ran an exasperated hand through my hair before I pulled into the school lot. I was probably reading too much into it. Just because she has a crush on me doesn’t mean she’d want to date me. But she was all hot and bothered Saturday. I sighed as I parked Grace next to Beau’s truck. Women were fucking confusing.

I left the car and started up the steps to the bus loading area.
The first bell must have already rung. The commons was almost empty, only a few kids still littered the tables. I straightened my jacket and headed toward the locker banks. Beau stood by my locker leaning against it.